Darkwing
Darkwing (known as Dusk in the United Kingdom) is a young adult fantasy novel by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel. It is a prequel to the Silverwing trilogy and fourth installment to the series overall, taking place 65 million years prior to those books. It described the origins of the war of the birds and the beasts, which plays a significant role in the original trilogy. Setting The story is set 65 million years ago, at the very beginning of the Paleocene epoch. when a natural disaster has wiped out most of the dinosaurs (referred to as "Saurians" within the context of the story). While a few have managed to survive the aftermath, they still suffer from climatic change and food shortage. The mammals, who were once at the Saurians' mercy, decided to form The Pact: unable to wage war against them on their own terms, they decided to band together to exterminate the remaining Saurians by destroying their eggs. Plot Dusk is a young Chiropter (a fictional, hypothetical species intended to represent a primitive bat) learning to glide. He has difficulty learning this, though; while the rest of his brethren have simple sails, Dusk has wings and an urge to fly that proves difficult to suppress. This leads to him being regarded as a freak by the rest of the colony, though his parents and sister, Sylph, warmly accept him for it. Dusk continues to fly, but out of fear of being shunned, keeps it a secret. Carnassial is a Felid (Miacis) who also has a strong desire. Having seemingly fulfilled the pact by destroying the last known batch of Saurian eggs, he has grown an insatiable appetite for flesh. He continues to lead a pack of other flesh-craving Felids to form a new world order. He then leads them to the island where the Chiropters live and devour many of the colony; Dusk's mother is one of the casualties. With their island overrun by the new predators, it is up to Dusk's unique powers of flight and echolocation to lead the colony to a new home. Meanwhile, Carnassial strikes an alliance with the powerful (but unintelligent) Hyaenodons, who claims that Saurians still exist and enlist the Felids to help them find and destroy their eggs. During their travel, the Chiropters seek refuge with a clan of Tree Runners, but Dusk discovers that the latter intend to sacrifice them a Diatryma. The colony escapes and find a new home, which is on the other side of a savanna that is home to many predators. While scouting for a good place to live, Dusk comes across a creature that looks remarkably like him, only it calls itself a bat and states that there are more like them. The Chiropters are attacked by Carnassial and the Hyaenodons, but quickly escape only to come across a group of Soricids, who overwhelm and kill one of the Hyaenodons. Dusk manages to escape with Sylph's help. The siblings are attacked by Carnassial once again and take refuge in the skeleton of a large dinosaur. They find their way to an eerie underground cave, and discover a nest of an unidentified meat-eating Saurian full of unhatched eggs, along with the rotting carcasses of the parents. Carnassial and his mate, Panthera, ambush and prepare to kill them and destroy the eggs when they are suddenly attacked by a juvenile Saurian that had hatched sometime ago, giving Dusk and Sylph a chance to escape. Dusk eventually leads the Chiropters to a new home and the book ends with him leaving his colony, promising Sylph that he will return if he does not like life with bats. also they all hella gay Category:Books